Hermione Granger turned her head from the window and glanced at her best friends. Ginny Weasley, her best girl friend and confidant, was now in her sixth and second to last year at Hogwarts. Hermione could see her vibrant red hair in it’s fullness for Ginny was turned on her side sleeping. Ginny’s brother, Ron, had the same flaming red hair as Ginny. Though they grew up in the same wizarding family Ron was much more of a quidditch person than Ginny was. Quidditch talk didn’t suit Hermione much. She could never get the names right. But luckily for her, her other best friend Harry Potter was a quidditch fanatic too, so she didn’t have to listen to Ron drone on and on. And of course, they were talking about quidditch now.
“Do you remember the Wronski Feint Krum did at the Quidditch World cup?” Hermione’s raven haired, bescarred, green-eyed friend said.
“Oy! Krum was amazing!! I still can’t believe the Irish seeker fell for that!”
Hermione tuned them out and looked back out the window. She had been looking at the scenery from the Hogwarts Express for about forty-five minutes now and felt the need to walk. She sighed.
“Harry, Ron, I’m going for a walk, okay?”
Harry and Ron looked up. “Sure Hermione!” Harry told her. “Whatever you say!”
Hermione left the carriage and, gingerly stepping over Ginny, exited into the corridor with her new laptop in hand. She had gotten the laptop while she was in America during the summer. She had gone to America with her parents to “get away from it all.” As if you could ever get away. Still, she did have a good time. She had made a friend in the U.S., which turned out to be a good thing for Hermione. Her new friend Aimee had really helped her with her “look”. Aimee showed her how to apply make-up, how to tell what make-up you need to put on to achieve the look you want, how to choose outfits, how to match outfits, etc. etc. The final product of Aimee’s teaching was a new and improved Hermione. Plus Hermione had really filled out over the summer too, meaning when she walked down the street she could expect a few cat calls. Hermione’s once bushy hair had been transformed into long, silky, brunette hair that cascaded down her back perfect for hair flips.
Hermione stood outside the closed carriage door for a while, thinking about America and her new friend, when she heard a noise coming from the end of the hall. Snapping back into reality, she turned right and headed down to the end of the corridor. Trying to find the source of the noise, she looked into every carriage until she was in the very back of the train. Having failed to locate the commotion, she went into an empty carriage, opening her laptop. Just after signing on to the internet, she heard it again. This time it was more decipherable then before and Hermione could tell it was someone arguing rather than just any old noise. Opening the carriage door silently she looked out into the hall and didn’t see anyone. She stepped quietly onto the carpet and saw the carriage door one down and across from hers open with alarming speed. The brunette drew back into the cubicle so only her head was showing and, to her surprise, Pansy Parkinson, a seventh year Slytherin, stepped out of the carriage crying.
‘Who could make someone as evil as Pansy cry?! They would have to be truly horrendous to upset her!’
Draco Malfoy followed Pansy out yelling “You heard me! We’re THROUGH! You’ve ALWAYS bugged me and you think it’s fine if you bat your eyelashes at me! GET AWAY AND STOP SNIVELING!” Pansy fled down the corridor crying while Draco Malfoy stood there, fists clenched and nostrils flaring. Hermione stood unmoving there shocked. The girl gasped, finally registering what she had seen.
Malfoy heard Hermione and turned around to face her. In what seemed like a second he had crossed the hallway and had pulled her forcibly into the carriage.
“What are you doing here?!” Draco snarled.
Hermione looked at him with her wide brown eyes not answering.
“ANSWER ME!” Draco yelled.
Regaining her composure Hermione said coldly, “Am I not allowed to have my own carriage?”
“You could have gotten one upfront!” Draco said, obviously trying very hard not to scream again.
“And what if there were none?” Hermione said, now shooting darts with her eyes.
Draco said nothing. He just gave Hermione his worst glare and stormed out of the carriage, leaving the shivering girl standing there.
After Hermione heard Draco’s carriage door slam, Hermione slumped down panting on the red velvet bench next to her laptop.
“I was right.” She stated weakly.
“It was somebody truly horrendous that made Pansy cry. It was Malfoy.”